


Beach Escape

by awgaskarth0805



Category: All Time Low (Band)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:06:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23747293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awgaskarth0805/pseuds/awgaskarth0805
Summary: After noticing that Alex hasn't been himself, Jack decides to take his friend to the beach for the weekend.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Beach Escape

**Author's Note:**

> This is a (very special) request!

“Hey mom, I just wanted to call and thank you again for letting me use the house this weekend,” Jack said into his phone as he started to drive away from his house.  
“No problem, Jack, just be smart and careful while you’re there,” Jack’s mom replied, making Jack roll his eyes.  
“Mom, we’ll be fine, nothing will break or catch on fire. I’m not a kid anymore,” Jack insisted.  
“I know, you boys will be just fine, and I think that you’re doing a great thing for Alex by doing this. I’m sure he’ll love it, and be very appreciative of you,” Jack’s mom said, causing Jack to smile.  
“I hope so. Hey, I’m going to let you go, I’m on the way to Alex’s to surprise him and pick him up, and I need both hands to drive,” Jack explained.  
“Okay, I hope you boys have fun. Remember, the key to get into the house is under the welcome mat,” Jack’s mom explained.  
“Right, still text that to me for just in case I forget, please?” Jack requested, making his mom laugh.   
“Will do, son. I’ll talk to you later, I love you,” Jack’s mom said.  
“I love you, too, mom. Talk to you later,” Jack said, before hanging up his phone and putting it in the middle cupholder. As he continued his drive, Jack felt adrenaline rush through his body. He was very excited for everything he’d planned, but was nervous about how interested Alex would be in his idea.   
For the past couple weeks, the band had been practicing Monday through Thursday for a tour that was coming up soon, and everyone could tell that something was up with Alex, especially Jack, who could tell that he was really down and upset about something. Alex had refused to talk to him about what was on his mind when Jack had asked him privately after practice earlier in the week, so Jack came up with what he thought would be a brilliant idea to get Alex’s spirits back up.   
Jack pulled into Alex’s driveway, then found his copy of Alex’s housekey in the glove box before getting out of the car and going to the front door. When he got inside, Jack noticed that Alex’s place looked messier than usual, which was a definite sign that something was going on with Alex. It was close to ten in the morning, and Alex was usually up by now, and the fact that he wasn’t concerned Jack more.   
After scoping out the messy downstairs, Jack went to the staircase, and went up to where Alex’s bedroom was. The door was cracked open, and Jack could hear light snores coming from inside. Jack quietly walked in and was surprised that Alex’s bedroom looked worse than the first floor had. There were clothes all over the floor, the blinds were half open, sitting at a diagonal in the window, and the dressers and nightstand were littered with books, plates, cups, and everything in between.   
Even though he felt a bit bad about doing this, Jack knew that the best way to wake Alex up would be to do it fast, so he pulled out his phone, and went to his music library. After selecting American Idiot, Jack put the phone by Alex’s head, making Alex quickly stir awake and sit up.  
“Jack, what the fuck? When did you get here? What’s going on?” Alex frantically asked, rubbing his eyes in exhaustion.  
“Good morning, Alex! I just got here, and I’m here because today is going to be the first day of our best weekend ever!” Jack exclaimed as a big grin appeared on his face. Alex rolled his eyes before laying back down and pulling his covers over his head.  
“Jack, I’m not doing shit today, except for sleeping a few more hours, and watching TV to distract myself from life,” Alex stated, his words muffled from the comforter over him.  
“No, that’s not how you’re going to be spending your day, dude. I’m not going to make you tell me what’s wrong if you don’t want to, but I’m also not going to just let you stay here by yourself in your misery. I can tell that something has had you down for the past couple weeks, and I’m going to try and fix it,” Jack explained, pulling Alex’s covers off of his head, only for Alex to put them right back to where they were.  
“Jack, I appreciate the thought, but I just don’t have the energy to do anything right now,” Alex said back, sounding depressed.  
“Well, you don’t have a choice, you’re going to tell me that you’re going to come with me, then I’ll tell you where we’re going so you’ll know how to pack,” Jack insisted, pulling Alex’s covers back, sitting on them so Alex couldn’t get them back again.  
“You’re not going to let up, are you?” Alex asked, starting to sit up again.  
“I’m afraid not, buddy,” Jack replied with a smirk.  
“Fine, if this shit means so much to you, I’ll go. Now, where are we going to?” Alex continued, yawning some.   
“You and I are going to Rehoboth Beach! It’s a couple hours away in Delaware, and we’re going to stay in my parents’ beach house!” Jack exclaimed.  
“That sounds like a lot, dude, I don’t-“ Alex started.  
“No, we’re doing this. You’ve been down and not yourself lately, and it makes me sad to see you like this. I know it probably sounds like a lot since you’re not doing too great, but I promise that we’ll have the best time. Let me do this for you, please?” Jack tried, hoping Alex would say yes.   
After a moment of silence, Alex took a deep breath before finally speaking again.  
“Okay, I’ll go,” Alex decided, making Jack’s face light up.  
“Hell yeah! You won’t regret this, I promise,” Jack assured.  
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll pack my stuff; how many nights is this going to be for?” Alex asked, slowly getting out of his bed.  
“Just two, tonight and tomorrow night. I think I’ll go downstairs so you can have some space while you pack and get ready, so I’ll be there if you need me,” Jack said, walking over to the door.  
“Okay, sorry it’s a bit messy down there, I’ve not really been in the mood to clean it,” Alex admitted, sounding a bit embarrassed.  
“Don’t apologize, I totally understand. I’ll be there when you’re done,” Jack replied, walking out of Alex’s room, and down to the first floor.   
Jack knew that he had about twenty minutes to kill, so he decided to do Alex a favor by straightening up his house some. He was able to fix up the living room, kitchen, and den before Alex walked downstairs, now dressed and holding a couple of bags.  
“Woah, it looks so much better down here. Thank you, but you didn’t have to do all of that,” Alex said, surprised by how much better his house looked.  
“It was no problem, I’m just glad I could help. Let’s go on outside, we’ve got a bit of driving in front of us,” Jack replied, opening up the front door.   
The two of them walked outside, and Jack loaded Alex’s things into his car as Alex locked up the house. When they got into Jack’s car, Jack immediately started to dig through the middle console.  
“What’re you looking for?” Alex asked, putting on his seatbelt.  
“Last night, I put a few albums that you- oh, I found them! I know we could’ve just streamed all of these on our phones, but I thought it’d be fun to play the actual CDs, like we did in high school,” Jack explained, handing Alex the stack of CDs, making him smile for what Jack assumed was the first time in a while.  
“Enema of The State, Dookie, Nevermind, I can’t believe that you still have all of these on CD!” Alex exclaimed, taking Dookie out of its case, and putting it into the stereo.  
“I didn’t know that I still did, either. I did a deep dive into my CD collection in preparation of this trip,” Jack said, starting to drive away from Alex’s house.  
“That’s so awesome, thanks Jack!” Alex said, making Jack smile to himself. As the fist song started to play, Jack cranked the volume all the way up, and the two of them began to sing at the top of their lungs as Jack drove down the highway. They did this through all of Dookie and Enema of The State, then they put in the last CD.   
They started to exchange their favorite stories from their high school days. Eventually, they ran out of things to say, and Alex started to scroll through his phone, making the car ride silent, aside from the faint sound of Nirvana in the background.   
Once they had about twenty minutes of driving left, Jack cleared his throat, getting Alex’s attention.  
“Did you want to say something?” Alex asked, putting his phone away.  
“Yeah, I wanted to ask, what’s been getting you so down lately?” Jack continued, a bit of nervous for Alex’s response.  
“Um, I don’t really want to talk about it right now. I know you’re concerned for me, and I really do appreciate it, but I just don’t feel ready for that conversation. I’m sorry, Jack,” Alex explained, his face turning red.  
“Don’t apologize, it’s okay. I hope that you do talk to me about it eventually, but I don’t want to force it out of you if you’re not feeling ready to talk about it,” Jack replied, hoping to reassure his friend.  
“I appreciate that, thanks, Jack,” Alex replied with a small smile.  
“No problem, now, let’s make these last twenty minutes awesome!” Jack exclaimed, cranking the stereo back up. The two of them sang along to the music for the rest of the drive, and Jack turned the music off when they finally got into Rehoboth so he could focus on his driving, not wanting to mess up and make a wrong turn.  
“Have you ever come here without your parents?” Alex asked, looking out of his window at all of the exciting things the beach town had to offer.  
“Well, we all came here during our senior year of high school. It was us, Rian and Zack, remember? I didn’t drive that time, which is why this is a bit tricky for me to figure out now,” Jack explained, finally turning down Olive Avenue.  
“Oh right, I remember that now. We drank quite a bit that weekend, that’s probably why I didn’t remember it,” Alex said, making both of them laugh.  
“Damn right we did; we were either drunk or hungover that entire weekend,” Jack replied, turning into the driveway of the house that was just five away from the boardwalk and beach.  
“We’ve made it! It’s been a while since I’ve used mom and dad’s house,” Jack said, getting out of the car.  
“I bet, considering how much we’ve been touring lately,” Alex replied as the two of them grabbed their things out of the car. Once they had everything, Jack grabbed the key from under the mat like his mom had instructed earlier and opened up the door.  
“Woah, it’s awesome in here!” Alex exclaimed, looking around the house.  
“Yeah it is! The bedrooms are upstairs, and I want you to have the master suite,” Jack decided.  
“What? No dude, this is your family’s house, you should get the nicest room,” Alex tried.  
“Nope, it’s all yours this weekend! I’ll be in the second nicest room, which is right next to the master. Come on, let’s set our stuff down,” Jack said, leading Alex upstairs. Jack quickly put his stuff into the room that was his, then showed Alex to the master.  
“This room is insane! Is that a bathtub with jets in the bathroom?” Alex asked, ditching his stuff to go to the bathroom.  
“It sure is! Hey, get yourself ready for the beach so we can leave in a few minutes,” Jack instructed.  
“Wil do, I’ll meet you downstairs,” Alex replied. Jack walked back to his room and quickly got changed for the beach before hiding some surprises for later in the day on the fist floor. Not much later, Alex came down with all of his beach gear.  
“Looks like we’re both ready, let’s go!” Jack exclaimed, leading Alex out of the house. After a short walk, they’d arrived on the boardwalk in front of a restaurant called Obie’s.  
“Hey, do you think we could get some food here before we go on the beach? I’m a bit hungry,” Alex requested.  
“Absolutely! This place has great food and booze-filled smoothies!” Jack replied as they walked into the restaurant and sat at the bar. They ordered their meals, then sat on their phones until everything was brought out to them.  
“Try that smoothie, then you’ll understand why I hyped it up so much,” Jack instructed. Alex took a small sip, then his face lit up.  
“Shit, that is really good! You really know your stuff,” Alex stated, taking another sip of his drink.   
Jack just smiled as they started on their lunches, both of them too hungry to talk to each other while they ate. Once they were finished, Jack paid the check, then they were on their way to find a spot on the beach.  
“Jack, you really didn’t have to pay for my lunch, I could’ve done it,” Alex said as they walked back down the ramp into the sand.  
“This weekend is my treat to you, remember? Besides, it was just bar food, it wasn’t that expensive. Do you want to sit over there? There’s not as many people,” Jack suggested, pointing to a vacant spot close to the water.  
“Looks good to me,” Alex replied, following Jack over to the spot he’d found.  
“Now, we can rent chairs if you want to, or we can just set up some towels to sit on here,” Jack said, putting his backpack on the ground.  
“I’m fine with just sitting in the sand,” Alex replied as he took his towel out of his backpack and set it on the ground.  
“Cool, when do you want to get in the ocean?” Jack continued, taking a seat next to his friend.  
“Maybe in a few minutes, it’s kind of nice just sitting here,” Alex said, laying down on his stomach, and resting his head on his arms.  
“That sounds good to me, just let me know when you want to go in,” Jack replied, laying in the same position as Alex. The two of them stayed like this for the next twenty minutes, until Jack finally looked over to Alex, and saw an upset look on his face.  
“Alex, hey, are you okay?” Jack asked, nudging his friend.  
“What? Yeah, I’m fine, I was just thinking about some stupid shit, don’t worry,” Alex replied, looking away from Jack.  
“Alex, what’s been bothering you, man? I haven’t seen you this down in a long time,” Jack stated, sounding concerned.  
“I don’t want to get into all of it right now. We’re supposed to be relaxing and enjoying our day on the beach, I’m sorry for fucking that up,” Alex said, sitting up.  
“You haven’t fucked anything up, man, I promise. Do you want to go into the ocean?” Jack asked back.  
“Sure, let’s do it,” Alex replied with a small smile. With that, the two of them got up, then made their way down to the water.  
“Holy shit, that’s so cold!” Alex exclaimed when a small wave splashed at his feet.  
“It’s not that bad. Come on, get all the way in, it’ll make the water feel better,” Jack insisted, getting his head under the water. Alex hugged himself as he slowly got further into the water, finally getting all the way in a few minutes later.  
“See, it’s not that bad now, right?” Jack asked.   
“It does feel a lot better now, I’ve got to admit it. Man, I can’t remember the last time I was in the ocean, this is really nice. I’m glad you convinced me to come on this trip with you,” Alex said, making them both smile.  
“I’m happy to hear that, man. Hey, let’s try to get some of the shells off of the bottom!” Jack suggested, which Alex happily went along with.   
Not long into their shell hunt, a big wave started to form, and neither of them realized it until it hit Jack, knocking him off of his feet and into the water.  
“Shit, Jack!” Alex exclaimed, running over to where Jack was, and pulling him back up once he found him. When Jack came back up, he coughed in an attempt to get some water out of his lungs.  
“Are you okay, man?” Alex asked, sounding worried.  
“I’m fine, that was actually really fun! I even found this cool shell when I went under!” Jack exclaimed, handing the shell to Alex.  
“This is pretty impressive; I’ll give you that. But, are you sure that you’re okay?” Alex continued.  
“I’m alright, I should’ve been paying more attention, but I’m totally fine. Let’s keep looking for shells,” Jack decided.  
“Let’s do it,” Alex replied as the two of them continued to search the ocean floor for shells. After about an hour, they finally got out of the water.  
“I almost want to go back in, it feels cold outside of the water,” Alex said, hugging himself as he sat on his towel.  
“You’ll warm back up soon don’t worry. Let’s just sit in the sun for a while,” Jack suggested. The two of them laid in the son for a bit, then eventually started to throw around a football that Jack had packed in his bag.   
Once Jack noticed that the lifeguards were starting to collect the rental umbrellas and chairs, he had an idea.  
“We’ve been here for a while; do you want to go to the boardwalk for a bit? There’s stores and games and rides,” Jack said, putting his shirt back on.  
“Sure, that sounds fun!” Alex replied. The two of them quickly packed up their things, then started to walk up the boardwalk.   
They ended up going into the first souvenir shop they found and looked at all of the overpriced shirts and hoodies with the name of the beach on it. As Alex looked at the magnets, Jack walked up to him, holding a shopping bag.  
“You bought yourself something?” Alex asked, sounding surprised.  
“No, I bought us something! Look, I got us matching t-shirts!” Jack explained, letting Alex look into the plastic bag.  
“Those look awesome, thanks Jack!” Alex said with a smile.  
“No problem, I thought it’d be a fun way to remember this trip,” Jack replied.  
“It definitely will be. Want to head to the next shop?” Alex suggested. Jack agreed, then they continued up the boardwalk. For the next two hours, they went into every shop there was, even though quite a few of them had the same things.   
As they were walking back up the boardwalk, they found Funland, which was where all of the rides were, and they spent quite a bit of time riding as many rides as they could with the amount of tickets they’d purchased.  
“That was so fun! I haven’t been on amusement park rides in forever,” Alex said as they started to walk up the boardwalk again.   
“That was really fun. Hey, there’s Dolles! They have taffy and other great sweets, let’s buy some things to have at the house!” Jack said, leading Alex into the store.  
“Woah, this place has everything!” Alex exclaimed, feeling overwhelmed by how many different sweets he was looking at.   
Alex took his time looking around, taking in his surroundings, while Jack already knew exactly what he wanted, and had made all of his purchases within ten minutes.  
“You’ve already bought everything you want?” Alex asked, sounding surprised.   
“Yeah man, I know this place like the back of my hand. Hey, while you finish making your choices, I’m going to go grab something for later,” Jack said back.  
“Sounds good, want to meet me outside of the store?” Alex suggested.  
“Sure, I’ll see you in a few,” Jack replied, walking out of the candy store. Within the next ten minutes, Alex had made his selections, then purchased everything.   
Once he had everything, Alex walked out of the store, and sat on an empty bench across from the candy store to wait for Jack. Not much later, Jack walked over to where Alex was, holding a pizza box.  
“You got us pizza?” Alex asked, standing up.  
“I did, but it’s not just any pizza, it’s Grotto’s pizza! This is a Rehoboth staple; you have to try it!” Jack exclaimed.   
“Well, I’m looking forward to it. Should we head back to the house? It’s already almost ten,” Alex pointed out, looking at the time on his phone.  
“Yeah, let’s do that. I brought some stuff for us to watch, it’s back at the house,” Jack explained as they started to head back to their street.  
“What did you bring?” Alex asked.  
“You’ll see when we get back! It’s a surprise for now, though,” Jack replied, making Alex roll his eyes.  
“Of course it is. Oh wait, I just realized we never got any drinks to have at the house, should we stop at a liquor store?” Alex continued.  
“I’ve got all of that taken care of, too. All you have to worry about is enjoying yourself. I took care of everything,” Jack said back.  
“You really did, I’ve got to hand it to you, man,” Alex said as they walked up the driveway of their house.  
“Of course I did. Now, let’s get cleaned up, then we can watch the movies I brought, and eat the pizza,” Jack suggested.  
“Sounds good to me, I’ll be down as fast as I can,” Alex promised, walking up the steps.  
“Take your time, no rush,” Jack replied. Once he knew that Alex was upstairs, he set the pizza on the coffee table in the living room, along with all eight Harry Potter movies, which he borrowed form his sister for the weekend, knowing how much Alex loved them.   
Next, he grabbed the four bottles of Alex’s favorite wine out of the kitchen, with two glasses, and set them on the table, as well. Once he was satisfied with how everything looked, Jack went up to his room, and took a fast shower so he could get back downstairs before Alex.   
When he was ready, Jack went back downstairs, and set up the first movie on the TV. After a few more minutes, Alex walked into the living room, and his face lit up once he saw everything that Jack had set up.  
“Oh my gosh, you brought all of the Harry Potter movies, and my favorite wine? You didn’t have to do all of this, Jack,” Alex said, taking a seat on the couch.  
“Sure I did! It’s no big deal, I just wanted to do something special for you,” Jack replied as he pressed the play button on the remote.  
“Well, it’s a big deal to me. This all means a lot, thank you so much, man,” Alex said, making both of them smile at each other.  
“Of course. Now, get some pizza and wine, and enjoy the movie! We can watch as many of the movies as you want to tonight,” Jack said as he poured himself a glass of wine. Alex smiled to himself as he got his food and wine, then started to watch the movie.   
Three bottles of wine, two moves and a pizza later, it was just about two in the morning. The ending credits to The Chamber of Secrets were rolling on the screen as a drunken smile appeared on Alex’s face, which Jack noticed.  
“What’re you smiling about?” Jack asked, laughing some.  
“This has been one of the best days I’ve had in the last two weeks, and I don’t want it to end,” Alex replied, slightly slurring his words.  
“Well, it doesn’t have to yet! We still have another bottle of wine, and we can watch another movie!” Jack exclaimed.  
“Nah, if we watch the next movie, we’ll be up until about four, and if we have that bottle of wine, we’ll really regret it in the morning. Well, I will, I’m pretty far gone,” Alex admitted.  
“You’ve got a point, I’m pretty drunk, too. I know what we could do! Let’s go on the beach! We’ll be the only ones out there since it’s so late, and we can look at the stars together!” Jack stated.  
“I don’t know, it’s already so late,” Alex pointed out, sounding a bit hesitant.  
“True, but we can sleep in as late as we want to tomorrow. Come on, man, it’ll be so fun! Neither of us want the day to end yet, and it doesn’t have to if we do this,” Jack tried. Alex silently thought to himself some before finally answering.  
“Okay, let’s do it!” Alex replied, finally giving in.  
“Awesome! You won’t regret this, man,” Jack promised as he slowly stood up. Alex stumbled as he came to his feet, making Jack laugh as he helped his friend regain his balance.  
“You’ve always been such a lightweight, dude. Are you going to be okay to walk all the way down to the beach?” Jack asked.  
“It’s not that far, I’ll be fine,” Alex assured as the two of them made their way to the front door. Jack was less intoxicated than Alex, so he carefully helped his friend up Olive Avenue, and down the boardwalk and into the sand.  
“Let’s sit right here, it looks comfy,” Jack said, pointing to a spot by the ramp. The two of them sat down and silently looked up at the sky. After a few minutes of looking at the stars and hearing the waves crash on the shore, Jack finally spoke again.  
“It’s so beautiful out here,” Jack said, not getting a reply from his friend. Jack turned to Alex and saw a distressed look on his face.  
“Hey, are you alright?” Jack asked, shaking Alex to break him away from his thoughts.  
“Oh, um, yeah, I’m fine, no worries,” Alex replied, his voice cracking some. Jack took a closer look at Alex, and noticed small tears starting to form in his eyes.  
“Hey, you look like you’re about to cry, what’s wrong, man?” Jack continued, feeling concerned. While Alex did have a bit of a history of being an emotional drunk, this was a bit much, even for him.  
“I just thought about some stupid shit, don’t worry,” Alex replied, trying to wipe away some of his tears.  
“You were thinking about whatever’s been bothering you for the past couple weeks, weren’t you?” Jack asked, scooting closer to Alex, and putting an arm around his shoulder.  
“Yeah, but I don’t want to ruin the night, I’ll-“ Alex started.  
“You’re not ruining anything, Alex, I promise. I know I gave you a choice in answering this earlier, but I want you to tell me now, what’s had you so down for the past couple weeks?” Jack continued, pulling Alex closer to him.  
“Do you really want to get into all of this at two something in the morning, while we’re both fucked up?” Alex asked, sounding a bit surprised.  
“Absolutely, man. You’re my best friend, and I hate to see you so upset, and not really being able to help, since I don’t know what’s wrong. I know stuff like this can be hard and scary to talk about, but you’re my best friend, and I’m concerned about you. I really want to help, but I can’t do that if I don’t know what’s wrong,” Jack tried. Alex took a deep breath, then finally started to speak.  
“Honestly, I don’t really know what’s wrong either. I’ve been a bit stressed about our upcoming tour. I feel like I’ve not done great in our rehearsals. I’ve also been trying to write some more songs, but every time I write something, I’ll read it back over, and just think that it’s the worst thing I’ve ever written. All of this has made me feel extra anxious and depressed and has put me into a spiral that I’ve not been able to escape from. Like, I can’t remember the last time I questioned my worth as a musician before now, and I’ve felt like the band would be stronger without me in it. I know it all probably sounds stupid, but these thoughts have been flooding my mind, and I can’t get them to go away,” Alex explained, starting to cry harder.   
The two of them stayed silent for a minute, Alex put his head into Jack’s shoulder and continued to cry into it. Jack wrapped his other arm around Alex so that he was fully hugging his friend, and he hugged him tightly, and rested his head on Alex’s.   
Eventually, Alex’s crying started to slow down, and he picked his head up off of Jack’s shoulder, before wiping away some of his tears.  
“Alex, I’m so sorry you’ve been feeling like that. You know this, but this band wouldn’t exist without you. No one could replace you now, or back when we formed it in high school. The three of us love you, and the fans do, too, maybe even more than we do. You’re twenty five percent of All Time Low, and you always will be. Every musician has off days in rehearsals, we all know I’ve had quite a few of them myself. Also, not everything you try to write is going to turn out great, and that’s okay. We don’t need new material for a bit, but if you really want to do some songwriting, I’d love to try to help you with it. Your abilities are way above mine, but I can try, and at the very least, help you if you start to get upset with yourself. Alex, you’re worth so much to so many, especially me. You’re the best bandmate ever, and the best friend I’ve ever had,” Jack explained, still hugging Alex.   
Seconds later, Alex finally hugged Jack back, and the two of them stayed like this while Alex cried a bit more. Not long after, they let go, and Jack helped Alex wipe away the new tears in his eyes.  
“Thank you, Jack, that all means so much to me,” Alex sincerely replied.  
“I wish you said something about this sooner, I hate that you’ve had to deal with all of these toxic thoughts about yourself by yourself for so long,” Jack replied.  
“I know, I really should’ve come to you before it all started to get really bad, that was a fuck up on my part. I guess I thought that it was all stupid, and that I could handle it on my own. Next time, I’ll just come to you,” Alex promised.  
“I understand why you were hesitant about talking about this, but I’m here for you, man. Forever and always,” Jack assured, making Alex smile some.  
“You really are the best friend every. Thank you for listening, and for planning out this trip with so many details, down to the movies and wine. I’ve felt worthless for the last couple weeks, but all of this has reminded me that those thoughts aren’t true. Thank you, Jack,” Alex said, leaning into Jack again.  
“No problem. I’m glad you told me about all of this, I know that it all won’t magically go away, but I’ll help you through it all in the coming weeks. You can always come to me when you’re feeling like this,” Jack said back. Instead of replying, Alex smiled to himself as the two of them started to look up at the stars again.   
After a few minutes, Jack pulled out his phone, and put on a playlist of slow songs, and turned the volume up. He carefully set his phone in the sand, then got up.  
“What’re you doing?” Alex asked.  
“It’s such a perfect night, I want to dance under the stars like they do in the movies,” Jack replied.  
“You don’t mean, like, a slow dance, do you?” Alex continued, feeling confused.  
“I sure do! Come on, it’ll be fun!” Jack tried.  
“Hell no, I’m still drunk, and I don’t even know how to slow dance,” Alex said back.  
“You never learned how to slow dance? Well, we’ve got to fix that right now!” Jack stated, trying to pull Alex up from the ground, but with no luck.  
“I don’t really want to look stupid right now. I just said a bunch of stupid shit, I’ve had enough embarrassment for one night,” Alex said with a laugh.  
“What you said wasn’t stupid, and you won’t embarrass yourself, it’s just us. Come on, try it for me?” Jack tried, extending his arm back out for his friend. Alex took Jack’s hand, rolling his eyes as he got up from the ground.  
“Now we’re talking! Just follow my lead, you’ll catch on quick,” Jack said, starting to dance with Alex to the tempo of the music.  
“See, you’re doing great!” Jack stated after a few minutes.  
“This is a lot easier than I expected, but that’s probably because I have such a great teacher,” Alex replied, making both of them smile.  
“There’s that smile I’ve missed seeing the past couple weeks,” Jack said as they continued to dance. Alex felt his face get a bit hot, but he couldn’t tell if it was from what Jack had said, or the alcohol he’d drank.  
“Thank you for helping me get it back,” Alex replied in a sincere voice. The two of them ended up staying on the beach for a while, dancing under the stars to the music, with the waves crashing in the background.   
Alex had started his day feeling depressed, but he could safely say that he was the happiest he’d been in a long time in this moment with Jack, and that he knew that things would only continue to go up from here; he’d be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is a very special request, because it is a birthday gift for my friend, Satellites_and_Stars! Today is her birthday, and I’ve had this written up for her for about a week now, and have been so excited to share it! As I was writing this, I had the idea to make it a thing on my page where you guys can send me longer, more detailed ideas (like this one), and I’ll write them up as birthday gifts, and they’ll be posted on your actual birthdays! I love doing a lot for my friends on their birthdays, and I thought that this would be a fun thing that I could do for you guys, because your all’s support on my work means a lot. So, if you guys would be interested in something like this for your birthday, just leave a comment with your birthday and your idea!! Before I finish this note, I HAVE to give a lil plug, please go check out my friend’s work, she is insanely talented at one shots and her chaptered fic, I seriously couldn’t recommend her stuff more! I hope you have a great birthday, and I hope that the rest of my readers are as excited for this birthday idea as I am! Lots of love, Liv.


End file.
